Did you ever stop and give a thought, to all the shoes you’ve worn?
And just how they have taken you – through sunshine and through storm?
When I look back across the years – I see so much of you,
And I think about the things you’ve done – In different kinds of shoes.
There were the boots in California – when you were a lumberjack,
And the shoes you wore to pick the fruit – or pull a cotton sack.
The shoes that took you many miles – as you walked behind the plow,
And the ones you’ve lived in most of your life – to feed and milk the cows.
The shoes you wore to dig a basement – fifty cents your daily pay,
And you always rode “Ole Nellie” – leaving ‘fore the break of day.
Then the steel-toed shoes of factory life – you wore for many years,
And I often think you wore them – just because I’m here.
The shoes you now are wearing – are the ones that say, “you’re you.”
They’re the shoes that tell your doing – just what you want to do.
Yes, the shoes you’ve worn are many – telling stories juts for me –
Making footprints on life’s fabric – of the life you chanced to weave.

I Love You

Gaylia Kenslow – Stogsdill
Written for her father Eulis Kenslow
June 2, 1982

Copyright Roy Richard